Search Engines
- Types of Search Tools:
- Directory Search Tool-
Searches the databases by subject matter. This search engine is good for the type of searches with a topic in mind.
- Search Engine Search Tool-
Accesses database by using keywords. I like it because if I only have a keyword to work with, it's easy to locate what I'm looking for.
- Combined Directory/Search Engine-
Uses two methods in combination. This can be good when searching for a topic but may not be sure of it, and have a keyword too.
- Multi-Engine-
Uses several searches in parallel. Its very good for those big, variety type searches because this search engine uses all the resources on-line combined. I like it because it uses all the resources around.
- Search Tool Features Table:
- You can search for a phrase usually by enclosing the phrase in double quotations. Some times capitalizing initial letters will cause the terms to be searched as a phrase.
- Using BOOLEAN
AND or + - means that you want these words to be searched for together
AND NOT or - - means that the word be excluded
OR- means that the one word "or" the other is acceptable
- Not all search engines are case sensitive. Lower case is always safe to use.
- Search Engines-General Information:
I think my favourite search engine would have to be Metacrawler, because its not only fast but uses a wide base of resources to locate information.
- Terminology of Web Terms:
- URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. It is the unique address used on the World Wide Web. You can access an address by clicking it.
- Three interesting codes and suffixes:
.com is a commercial site
.edu is a government site
.web for entities emphasizing activities related to the www
- Addresses- used to connect to a site on the WWW.
Codes and Suffixes- are added on to an address to determind where they came from.
Boolean Expressions- let you narrow down your search.
Case Sensitivity- means that the way you spell a word including capitalization, and punctuation affects the search.
Brackets- used much like quote marks but with the additional factor that the words within the brackets will be considered and searched as a single entity.
Plus and Minus Signs-
use (+) before a term to retrieve a document containing the term.
use (-) before a term to retrieve a document which excludes that term.
Quote Marks- use "" around words to indicate a phrase.
Hits- are documents or references to documents that are returned in response to a search.
Query- a search request.
